'Wheel of Fortune' return to New Orleans offers opportunity for special reunion

“Wheel of Fortune” recently returned to New Orleans for the first time since the weekend Hurricane Katrina struck and failed levees flooded the city.

Wheel of FortuneHoward Calloway, Harry Friedman and Preston Davis at the recent 'Wheel of Fortune' tapings in New Orleans.

Three weeks of episodes shot here during that return visit will air starting at 6:30 p.m. Monday (May 2) on WVUE-TV.

The visit also included a special reunion.

Preston Davis and Howard Calloway weren’t scheduled to work on August 28, 2005.

“We got a call early that Sunday stating that there’s a group of people that needed to be picked up at the Lowe’s hotel in New Orleans, and we’re taking them to Houston, and we need to get to them as soon as possible,” said Davis, a bus driver for Calco Travel in New Orleans at the time. “You never know who you’re picking up. It’s just to get them from point A to point B.

“(We) met up with these people that looked like everyday people to us. They were very anxious to get on the bus, very anxious to get out of the city. We loaded like normal and headed out of the city.”

The passengers on this trip, which has really never ended, was the “Wheel of Fortune” production crew. The syndicated game show had been taping episodes in New Orleans that weekend. The approach of Hurricane Katrina cut the production short by a day.

Wheel of FortunePat Sajak and Vanna White during the recent 'Wheel of Fortune' tapings in New Orleans.

Stars Pat Sajak and Vanna White were able to leave by private jet after Saturday’s tapings. Evacuating the rest of the company – dozens of staffers – was more of a challenge.

“One by one, all of our flight reservations went away,” said Harry Friedman, executive producer for the show since 1999. “The trains were not an option. Every rental car was taken up. So, we thought, ‘We’ll get buses.’

“We contacted the bus lines we work with and they were all booked. One in particular said, ‘We have a couple of buses, but they’re reserved for a convention group coming in tomorrow.’ Our travel coordinator said in the nicest but firmest way, ‘There’s not going to be a convention.’ We literally commandeered these two buses.

“When we boarded the buses the next morning, we knew it was going to be a long drive. We had no idea how long.”

In the first four hours of the trip, the buses moved 10 miles.

“It was harrowing,” Friedman said. “It was arduous. It was the unknown. We didn’t have enough food or water.”

Breaks and attempted meals came at depleted convenience stores.

“It was the first time since college that I’d had a wine cooler,” Friedman said. “Anything was sounding good.”

All involved knew that every mile of the trip to Houston was a mile farther from what was happening in New Orleans.

And a mile farther from their bus drivers’ homes, families and lives.

“It was a scary task,” said Calloway, who lives in Gray, La. “At the time, we didn’t know what was going to happen.”

As the buses inched along, Friedman and others on board kept up a stream of conversation with their drivers.

“We were just tired, and they talked to us the entire time,” Davis said. “Each stop we made, they made sure we were OK.”

Wheel of Fortune'It was harrowing,' said Harry Friedman, 'Wheel of Fortune' executive producer (second row right, aisle seat) of his crew's Hurricane Katrina evacuation. 'It was arduous. It was the unknown.'

“That was a blessing right there, to have them on board,” Calloway said. “They kept us energized.”

“Some of the efforts were to take my mind off of what was happening back home,” Davis said. “We didn’t know how bad it was going to be. I don’t think any of us really did.”

The drive took more than 23 hours. Neither Davis nor Calloway had driven such a long stretch before.

“Once we got to Houston, that was really when it struck me that in a few hours we’d be home … and these guys would be homeless,” Friedman said. “That was when it really sunk in that they had done something heroic.”

Over the next several days, Davis made multiple evacuation runs into and out of the flooded city.

“I don’t think I can do it justice to try and describe it, how those trips panned out,” Davis said. “A lot of emotional burdens were visualized. People cried a lot, didn’t want to leave certain things behind. It was amazing to see a lot of that.”

Meanwhile, the “Wheel” crew, returned to its Los Angeles base, watched the horrors in New Orleans unfold on TV. They felt not quite helpless, thanks to a connection made via a lost laptop.

After dropping off the “Wheel” group in Houston, Davis had discovered a laptop computer on his bus and called Trevor Ward, a production supervisor and one of the “Wheel” staffers who’d kept the conversation going during the long ride.

“That, in turn, I guess triggered something in him to say, ‘Hey, we’ve got to do something. This guy didn’t have to send the computer back. He didn’t have to be as nice to us as he was.’”

After finally returning to his Donaldsonville home, Davis began to receive FedEx shipments organized by Ward and stocked by the “Wheel” staff.

“Clothes and canned goods and camping supplies,” Davis said. “Every other day or so, we were getting a FedEx. I’m telling you, we had ‘Wheel of Fortune’ towels, ‘Wheel of Fortune’ blankets. And it was in such abundance, we shared with the neighbors and people in our community. Nobody had anything.

“We had no electricity. Things were just bad.”

But not as bad as they might’ve been, thanks to a visiting game show, a long off-day drive and a lost laptop.

Calloway and his family got the care packages, too.

“Once they got back to California, they called us and they asked us what we needed,” Calloway said. “They took care of us.”

Davis’ Donaldsonville home was not seriously damaged in Katrina, but Rita would be another story. He now resides in Magnolia, Miss., where he’s pastor at Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church. “You can thank Katrina and Rita for making me get away,” he said.

Calloway, who lost property during the storms but not his home, now drives for Louisiana Coaches.

Both men and their families attended a day of “Wheel” tapings while the show was in town to shoot the episodes that begin airing Sunday (May 2).

“That was a big experience,” Calloway said. “They treated us like royalty.”

“It was a great reunion,” Davis added. “Had a chance to see old friends and hug and talk about that night.

“It was amazing that they continued to talk with me and keep in touch with me even after the fact.

“The ‘Wheel of Fortune,’ they’re family to me, and will always be family to me.”

Dave Walker can be reached at
dwalker@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3429. Read more TV coverage at
nola.com/tv. Follow him at twitter.com/davewalkertp.